US1723496A - Separable fastener - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 6, 1929.

F. ULRICH 1,723,496

SEPARABLE FASTENER Filed June 2. 1925 13 gy?. 12 18 :u

I N VEN TOR.

Patented Aug. 6, 1929.

UNITED STATES IBEDBICK ULRICH, F NEW-YORK, N. Y.

SEPABABLE FAsrENEa.

Application led June 2,

' 15 will be better understood from a consideration of a particular illustrative embodiment thereof for the purpose of which description reference should be had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and in which Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a pair of stringers with fasteners constructed in accordance with the invention applled thereto;

Figure 2 is a detail view showing the metallic fastener elements drawn to a larger scale;

Figure 3 is an end view showing the two cooperating fasteners;

Figure 4; is a detailed view in end elevation of the female fastener showing the beveled form of the slots;

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail view in front elevation of the sliding cam device which operates to connect and disconnect the fasteners; Y

Figure 6 is a sectional view. taken on the line 6 6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8 8 of Figure 5.

Inathe structure shown, flexible stringers 5 and G adapted to be attached to the edges of the parts to be separably connected, carry series of interengaging fasteners 7, 8. A slid- 45 ing cam member 10 engaging the fasteners operates upon movement in one direction to connect the fasteners and upon movement in the opposite direction to disconnect them.

The fasteners are of such design that they maybe formed economically and expeditious- 1y from sheetmetal by stamping them out and binding them with suitable dies and the interengaging surfaces lie at right angles to the direction of the strain thereon so that 1925. serial No. 34,296.-

there is little or no tendency for the-fasteners either*l to be separated or to be drawn into wedging relation with each other or with the slidinfT cam under the strain of use. Each male mem er is formed with ahead 11 having' two laterally projecting lugs 12, 12, which are beveled on their outer faces as at '13 to provide clearance to facilitate engagement and disengagement with the cooperating female fasteners. The shank portion is slitted in three places to provide four tongues 15, two of which are bent to one side from the central plane of the fastener and the other two of which are bent tothe opposite side as best indicated in Fig. 3. These tongues are formed to embrace the vcorded edge of the Stringer .and the extreme end portions thereof are extended parallel to the central plane of a fastener to lie closely adjacentand against the body of the stringer as 'indicated at 16, 16 in Fig. 3 when the fastener is applied. In order to improve the grip of the tongues 15, they are slitted as indicated at 18 to provide inwardly extending tongues with relatively square edges which engage against the rear side of the corded edge. The arrangement of the tongues shown gives a neat and regular appearance to the finished device and provides a sufficiently continuousmetallic bearing surface for the sliding cam 10.

The female fasteners are formed at their outer ends to suitably engage the heads ofthe male fasteners and their Shanks are formed with tongues 18 to engage the stringers 5 which tongues are in all respects similar to the tongues of the male fasteners. The head of each female fastener is bentat a right angle to the body thereof as indicated at 20 in Fig. 3 which head is slotted on each side as indicated at 2l in Fig. 4 to receive the portion of the shank of the male fastener adjacent the head. 11 thereof. The female fastener ma;7 be siightly beveled as indicated at 22 at each edge to facilitate the engaging movement of the fasteners. This bevel. may be formed by means of the dies used in making the fastener and should not require aseparate operation in the manufacture.

The sliding cam 10 may be formed from sheet metal shaped in dies to provide cam slots arranged in the form of a Y to cause a turning of the male and female fasteners alternately into interengaging position as the cam is moved in onedirection therealong and similarly to provide a turning disengaging movement of the fasteners as the cam is moved in the opposite direction. The shape of the cani in cross-section is best shown in Figs. 6 and 7. A t its lower end, the cam is formed vwith one channel having engaged portions 25, 2G arranged to fit over the bulged shanks of the fasteners where they embrace the corded edge ofthe Stringer. The extreme edges 27 of the material ofthe cam engage and ride upon the ends 1G of the tongues 15. The intermediate portion of the channel is provided with an enlargement 28 arranged to receive the-heads 2O of the female fasteners. At the upper portion the cam is formed with two channels 29, 30 adapted .to i'eceive and guide respectively the male and female fastoners. The enlarged portions 25, 26 of the lower channel 'portions are extended upwardly and form part ofv these upper channels as indicated at 3l, 32. The channel 30 is provided with an enlarged portion 33 which forms in facta continuation of the enlarged portion 28 of the lower channel to receive the heads 20 of the female fasteners 8.

Fasteners of the type described are sometimes used under conditions such that it is desirable to leave the strips connected for a portion of their' length only and yet it is desirable that the cam should be so arranged that apull on the free edges of the material will not cause the cam to be moved along the fasteners to further separate the connected edges. For this purpose, I prefer to form the cam with the upwardly extending portions of thefastener engaging cam slots extending parallel to each other as indicated at 34 in Fig. 5. By so forming the cam inember, a lateral pull upon the connected strips will 'be resisted by the parallel portions of these cam slots so that the force applied will not tend to move the cam along the row of fasteners. -The fasteners will thus remain connected even though the cam member has not been moved to the end of the row of fasteners. A

In order to facilitate the movement of the cam, I prefer to provide a suitable handle member such as the tab 35 shown in Fig. 5 and which is secured to the cam member by a suitable rivet. As shown, the rivet 36 has a square shank, thus preventing rot-ation and its head is formed to provide a loop to receive a ring portion of the tab. The rivet also performs the function of securing the two parts of the cam together. It will be understood that these two parts of the cam are integrally connected at their top portions as indicated at 37 in Fig. 5, the whole cam being formed of one piece of sheet metal bent to the shape shown. As the cam slide moves upwardly,

the fasteners engaged thereby are alternately swung from the diagonal position to the horizontal position, see Figs. l and 2, to interengage with the next fastener below.

The fastener shown can be expeditiously and economically manufactured and will not bind either in use or during the engaging and disengaging operation of the cam. Any suitable arrangement may be provided for limiting the upward movement of the cam as it reaches the end of the series of fasteners in its operative movement.

The description of the particular embodiment is illustrative merely and is not intended as defining the limits of the invention.

I claim:

l. A separable fastening device comprising a pair of flexible stringers each having a corded edge, series of cooperating male and female fasteners secured to therespective stringers, and a sliding cam device movable therealong to connect and disconnect the fasteners, the fasteners of each sci'ies being formed of sheet metal stamped to form alternate tongues shaped to partially encircle the corded edges of the Stringer and having extensions lying parallel to thel length of the fastener to provide a shoulder for engagement with the sliding cam device.

2. A. separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, series of cooperating male and female fasteners se'cuied to the respective stringers, and a sliding cam device movable therealong to connect and disconnect the fasteners, the female fasteners being formed of sheet metal with a head portion bent at substantially a right angle to the body thereof and slotted at the lateral edges of the head portion to form sockets and the male fasteners being formed of sheet metal having laterally extending projections engageable with the sockets of two adjacent female fasteners.

3. In a fastener apparatus of the character described, in combination, a plurality of male fasteners each having a head with lateral projections, a plurality of female fasteners having heads bent at right angles to the shanks thereof and slotted on each side to provide recesses for receiving the lateral projection of the male fasteners.

4. A separable fastener comprising a pair of stringers, a series of cooperating male and female fasteners secured to the respective stringers and arranged to be engaged and disengaged by relative angular movement in the plane of the stringers, each female fastener being formed of sheet metal with a head portion bent at substantially a right angle to the body thereof to form a laterally projecting head, said head being slotted at its opposite edges to receive a portion of a cooperating fastener.

5. A. separable fastener comprising a pair of flexible stringers, a series of cooperating male and female fasteners secured to the respective stringers, each female fastener being formed with an upstanding laterally extending head having slots at either edge, the

slots being beveled to facilitate interengagement with a cooperating male fastener.

-6. A cam device for connecting and disconnecting separable fasteners having guideways in the form of a Y, the upper separated portions of which guideways are parallel to each other in the direction of the length of the stem of the Y.

7. A cam device for connecting and disconnecting separable fasteners comprising a sheet metal blank folded on itself and formed to provide guide ways in the form of a Y, portions of the upper separated portions of such guide Ways to which tension is likely to be applied being extended parallel to each other in the direction of the length of the stem of the Y.

8. A cam device for connecting and disconnecting separable fasteners having converging guide Ways arranged to cause the fasteners to interengage upon movement therealong in which the outer ends of said guide Ways turn relatively toward cach otherfrom the di verging lines.

9. A separable fastening device comprising a pair of iiexible stringers each having a corded edge, series of cooperating sheet metal male and female fasteners secured to the respective stringers, the Shanks of the fasteners of each series being slitted to torni tongues, alternate tongues being turned to opposite sides of the plane of the fasteners and bent to grip the corded edge. l

10. A separable fastener as defined in claim 1 wherein the fastener consists of sheet metal stampings. i

11. A separable fastener as defined in claim 1 wherein the edges of the fasteners are beveled to facilitate engagement and disengagement.

12. In separable fasteners, the combination of tWo stringers, a series of mating fastener members secured to the edge of both stringers, each of said members including a portion co-operable with a mating member and a shank portion of fiat stock slitted to form ad jacent tongues each partially encircling the edge of the Stringer and engaging in alternation the opposite sides of the Stringer.

13. In separable fasteners, the combination of two stringers, a series of mating fastener members secured to the edge of both stringers, each of said members including a portion co-operable With a mating member Aand a portion having a plurality of edge adjoining tongues each partially encircling the edge of the Stringer and engaging in alternation the opposite sides of the Stringer.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 25th 'day May, 1925.

FREDRICK ULRICH.

Images